I Love Sesame Street

I'm not a huge fan of Nancy Gibbs' writing over at Time magazine (you know, given how often I gripe about this publication, I'm beginning to wonder why I read it . . . I suppose it's because I like to think it keeps me in touch with main-stream America), but she had an interesting piece the other day about Sesame Street's influence on our President.

It made me reflect on what I loved about Sesame Street as a kid, how it also made me who I am, and why I have big issues with where it is today (although, granted, I haven't seen a second of it in a really, really long time).  And, before you start, I know this is going to make me sound like an old man complaining about how much better things were back in my day . . . but, really, last time I saw Sesame Street it was a lot more visually intense than it was when I was a kid, and I think that is not good.  There was a lot of flashing, and quick cuts, and it seemed like they were trying really hard to compete with video games and action animated TV shows.  I found it really distracting from whatever point they were trying to make.  They also did one sketch where they counted to bazillion (ok - 20, but that's still a lot of counting and it seemed a little drawn out).

Artistically, what I always liked about Sesame Street was the drama.  Real stuff happened on the Street - it was usually fairly mundane, but I still remember the day that I found out that Mr. Hooper died (RIP) - on the 6 o'clock news.  It was intense.  Anyways, it seemed like real people dealing with real emotions (although in retrospect, most of it was probably just acting) - sometimes having fun, sometimes being sad, or angry, or whatever.  The point is that it was the drama that pulled me in and that I think ends up getting cut with all these new-fangled camera and editing techniques.  I'd prefer to see them go back to concentrating on old-fashioned story-telling (btw - it's the same reason that Star Wars is dead to me after the horrors that were Episodes 1 through 3), but that would probably kill the Nielsen ratings - stupid Americans.

Anyhow, Sesame Street was a major part of my childhood; it was about the only thing I was allowed to watch.  I was in love with Maria from the show.  I think it probably had a major influence on what I conceived of when I thought of a city neighborhood and my idealization of what life in the city should be like: a diverse community of people living communally.